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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 7, 2006

DENVER, COLORADO

THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by San Diego head coach Beth Burns and Student athletes Michelle Strawberry and Erin Jackson. Coach Burns, begin with some comments we'll open up for questions.
COACH BETH BURNS: Certainly I think first congratulations needs to go to Colorado State. This is a game that neither team aspires to be in, and I think that it was a tremendous effort by them obviously. There was a couple little stretches in the second half, but you can't say enough about the performance that Espinoza had today. She hit some back breakers. I think for us, she was 5 for 5 from three, including an N one.
We had Veronica Shaw on her lot, who is a very good pressure defender but we really had no answer. They did some any things. I was proud of our team. I think we competed hard. I think that 44 percent in the second half is the best shooting percentage that we've had all season long. We've struggled with it all season long. So, I give us credit that we walked in here with our heads up and we're going to walk out of here with our heads up.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. Coach Burns, is this a situation where you're kind of looking more at the process than the outcome, the improvement of your team throughout the season?
COACH BETH BURNS: That's a great question. I'm going to have to put a plug in, they had a great stringer who came in today. You're exactly right. The real positive is how great the Mountain West Conference is. We're proud that we're the 6 RPI league in the country. That's something that you know for us we spoke a lot about having success, what we can do day in day out, game in game out to have success, because in a lot of the contests winning wasn't a conceivable realistic option. It didn't mean we didn't strive to do that. But the process was -- and we have improved tremendously. But I think it's the level of our competition which is kind of the reason why you see the result.
Q. Follow up question for you, Michelle. What do you feel like you're legacy will be for those who are coming after you? Are you happy with the foundation that you've laid?
MICHELLE STRAWBERRY: Yes, I think I did a good job laying a foundation. They have a good recruiting class coming in for next year and the returners have improved so much. The foundation that me and myself some of the seniors, Veronica and Lindsay, the foundation we laid was pretty much hard work. And Coach Burns is going to continue to make everybody work hard. Foundation is pretty much laid, and next year's time, get some wins.
Q. Looking at the box score, the stat line and rebounds, the same, everything was pretty close. Can you talk about the difference, what it really came down to today?
COACH BETH BURNS: You know, coaches know their teams obviously better than anybody else. And I think that, you know, everybody has to make adjustments. And I think one of the adjustments that we have as coaches is that there's some things we can't do. Maybe a logical adjustment, if you will.
They put some new wrinkles into the triangle. We hadn't guarded it yet. We guarded them pretty well both times we've played them. And I think that was the difference. You know, the wrinkles that they had, we didn't adjust -- and give credit, you can wrinkle all you want; you still got to make shots. And that's why I say Espinoza made some huge shots. But they were doing something new. And in a game that was this close, where we really tried to make the game ugly and tried to take some air out of the ball on the offensive end, because we don't go very deep, that was huge.
We just couldn't seem to adjust to what we had to get done, perhaps to put ourselves in a position to eliminate some of those three-point shots.
Q. Michelle or Erin, can you talk about the four-point play? Espinoza, you kind of clawed your way back into the game. Talk about what that play meant.
MICHELLE STRAWBERRY: Well, obviously that was pretty much a back-breaker because we were trying to contain her. She just hit a couple of threes on us. We were trying to put the ball in the basket after that. We knew we were down and we knew she was hot. We tried to contain her as best as we could. As Coach Burns said, they did put some wrinkles in. For us, it was pretty much mental. We had to adjust. We had to talk and switch. That's where we kind of lost focus, it was because of that. She hit a couple shots.
Q. Michelle, you've been here for a while. Can you just reflect on the season?
MICHELLE STRAWBERRY: I think this is a good learning season for me. I had a great time. I love my teammates. The new coaches coming in did a great job. I think we advanced and we played better every game, and we've learned a lot of things. Like he was saying, we built a foundation and we'll be able to win the next coming up years.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies.
COACH BETH BURNS: Thank you.

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